In my ever-constant desire to devour the world, I’ve decided to commit myself to reading a work from every country. I anticipate the journey to take several years as I intend to only read a couple from the list (which I’m slowly curating!) each month. I’m starting with the As.
Country: Argentina
Title: Elena Knows
Author: Claudia Piñeiro
Language: Spanish
Translator: Frances Riddle
Publisher: Charco Press (2021) Alfaguara (2007)
Claudia Piñeiro is the third most translated Argentinean author, and she is best known for her crime novels. Both a crime novel and a delicate but brutal depiction of motherhood, daughters and the power of choice, Elena Knows was shortlisted last year for the Booker International Prize. I found it fantastic.
Taking place over the course of a one day, the novel follows Elena; an older woman whose body is rebelling against her as her Parkinson’s worsens on a quest to find out who killed her daughter. The detectives ruled Rita’s death a suicide; she was found hanging in the church belfry. Elena does not believe her daughter took her own life because it was raining that day, and Rita avoided the church at all costs when it was raining.
Elena’s journey is structured by the pills she’s required to take in order to place one foot quite literally in front of the other. She’s seeking out a woman she believes owes Rita a debt. As she journeys, we see flashes of Elena’s tormented relationship with her daughter, a staunch supporter of the anti-choice movement, who’d become her rather bitter caregiver.
Elena Knows, framed as a murder mystery, swings from the shadows with a piercing commentary on motherhood and a woman’s right to choose.
Read this book.
A Girl Named Tommi 